Sheyene Gerardi, a well-known Venezuelan soap opera star and model, has been appointed a member of NASA’s Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) as the Lead for Robotics Outreach. This world-class institution of planetary scientists and space technologists invited Sheyene to join them because of her visionary work fusing space robotics technology development with humanitarian development on Earth.

Sheyene’s program addresses technological literacy in under-developed regions, creation of jobs in robotics, and advancement of technologies needed off-Earth. The program addresses a much larger concern, too, one that few have even considered: robotic industry on the Moon and Mars has such great potential for rapid scale-up that it could widen the gap between privileged and under-privileged to the point of causing great harm. Sheyene’s team is working to broaden the ownership of in-space industry as it develops, which will help solve all these problems.

Sheyene founded and operates a school to serve at-risk youth in an under-developed region of Venezuela. There, she has found systemic problems due to inadequate community support for education. Sheyene realized innovative methods are needed to motivate her students when she found out most of the children have very little hope for advancement in jobs or careers, and they do not see how education will change that.

In 2017, she met with the University of Central Florida. Sheyene recognized the space industry has great potential to improve life on Earth, but there is a strong chance the plight of people in underdeveloped regions will grow worse instead of better.

The concern is that once a supply chain is established through robots mining and manufacturing on the Moon or asteroids, it is outside the social and economic controls we have evolved for civilization on Earth. Within a few decades, advances in machine intelligence will make the robotics more autonomous, reducing the cost of labor to control the robots from Earth. According to a 2012 NASA study, it takes about this same amount of time for industry on the Moon or Mars to become an adequately self-sufficient supply chain to enable affordable scale-up, reducing the mass of materials that must be launched from Earth. The marginalization of labor from economic production is already a concern for terrestrial industry, but in space the isolation from normal economic and social restraints makes it much worse. Robotic space industry has potential to grow according to its “metabolism”, its throughput of matter and energy, without the usual economic and social controls. This can rapidly widen the gap between capital and labor, or between privileged and under-privileged following the lines of those who can participate in space and those cannot. Studies suggest this can occur as early as the middle of the century.

“As the economic revolution proceeds and production begins shifting first to robots on Earth and then to robots off-Earth, workers who don’t share ownership of the robots will be reduced to political powerlessness far worse than their conditions today. We have the opportunity to solve this problem during the bootstrapping period while human labor is still needed for space industry,” Sheyene says. Sheyene has added to this vision the theme of entertainment, to connect the creative community with scientists and thus educate the public to support science. “I also came to believe I can have the greatest impact for change by focusing on my area of expertise: what entertainment contributes to solving these problems: a lot, as it turns out, we have the ability to show people what they can do to address these problems widely and efficiently. I have been working with my production and marketing team to develop an ‘educational entertainment production for social change.’ My team sees fantastic opportunities to produce content in and around the program we have started,” she added.

Sheyene’s concern for the plight of the economically disadvantaged grew out of her unique life story. She started as an actress and became internationally-known for her roles in Spanish telenovelas until she was struck by serious personal tragedy. A year after losing her family in an automobile crash, she was diagnosed with a Stage 4 lymphoma that had spread to 85% of her body. She survived after three years of difficult chemotherapy to become the only know survivor of a rare form of the disease. These experiences convinced her to focus the rest of her life on helping people in need. She founded and now operates two non-profit philanthropic foundations including Sheyene School, which began in Venezuela and has now expanded into multiple countries to expand technological literacy and to create a pipeline to jobs and economic participation in underdeveloped regions. Sheyene recently started a socially-conscious business to broaden the ownership of space industry as one of its major goals. The business plans to accelerate human expansion into space by advancing the robotic technologies, doing so in a way that conveys equity to all the participants.

Shashi Jain, from TiE young entrepreneurs, said of Sheyene’s work, “As a Senior Technical Marketing Engineer for over 18 years, I am deeply impressed by the value of the work that Sheyene is doing through her non-profit. She understands how to inspire people to not just love the subject matter, but to see the possibility of contributing to it in themselves through a few simple steps. This is a rare skill; you often get two of these at the same time, not all three.”

Sheyene’s work advancing robotics education globally resulted in her invitation to join the planetary scientists of NASA’s CLASS. The CLASS team consists of leading planetary scientists, geologists, geochemists, dynamicists, engineers, physicists and other researchers from across the world, and is headed by Prof. Daniel T. Britt at the University of Central Florida. The CLASS network incorporates domestic institutions across the USA and international partner institutions in different countries. An integral part of the CLASS mission is to give back to the wider community.

“I have been following with great interest Sheyene’s activities in organizing world-wide robotics competitions. Her vision for expanding the scope and the impact of space science and engineering outreach dovetails strongly with the objectives of the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science. We are looking forward to working with Sheyene and are excited about the possibilities of the robotic competitions,” Prof. Daniel Britt said.

“People, in general, are unaware of the danger they are in, that with no way to personally go into space, no need for their labor in the face of robotic artificial intelligence, and no way to gain an ownership share in the industry, they will be left behind both economically and politically, creating a vastly deeper rift between the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have-nots’. While the rift is already big today, it is seriously nothing compared to what it will be when industry is started in space and grows to massive proportions, unless steps are taken during the startup period,” Sheyene says. “Many solutions require an understanding of local pain points to solve economic and standard of living challenges every country is trying to solve to provide a better quality of life. I am glad and appreciative that with this synergy we can turn this initiative into a win for everyone. I feel the time is right,” she added.

Sheyene is advancing her plan to support both technological literacy and direct participation in space, through a robotics curriculum, which will be made freely available through her non-profit school. The team is also creating a series of robotics competitions, including secondary, college, and post-college events, with the goal of replicating it on a global scale. The technological progress achieved through the robotics competitions will be funneled back to NASA missions through her position in CLASS. Her participation with the SSERVI/CLASS network will facilitate her access to its cutting-edge scientific advances, enhancing the existing partnership she has with the Florida Space Institute, enabling her program to reach more people with the excitement of NASA space exploration to make a tangible difference their lives.

After the resounding success on the French Riviera, the Italian artist Cesare Catania continues to amaze international critics.

Thursday 19 July 2018, during the art biennial of Saint Paul de Vence, the last sculpture of Cesare Catania, entitled "The Heart of the Earth - B Version" will be installed right at the entrance to the Provençal village. It's a sculpture of contemporary art that connects to a previous work of art in wood and acrylic made by the same artist between the years 2012 and 2015, entitled "The Heart of the Earth - A Version". The last sculpture "The Heart of the Earth - B Version" draws inspiration from the same concept of strength and energy that releases the Earth and was made of Carrara marble powder and white cement. To give even greater emphasis to the energy aspect, the artist wanted to combine the remains of a meteorite in the mixture. The origin of the latter and the historical dating of the bodyfrom thousands of light years are controversial: the only certain data is that they are fragments belonging to the meteorite cataloged by the official bodies and by NASA as "Meteorite Gibeon", fallen in prehistoric times in the southern region of Namibia (Africa) and some pieces of which are exhibited in the most famous geology museums in the world.

In this work of art Cesare Catania wanted to concentrate all the strength of the elements considered to be of greater energetic impact: the inverted pyramide and the sphere, the marble dust coming from the Earth and the meteorite fragments coming from the Universe.

The sculpture will be installed on Thursday 19 July 2018 in the heart of Provence and in particular in the capital of world art Saint Paul de Vence, in front of the contemporary art gallery Odd Gallery.

ViCardio®, (http://www.vicardio.com) a unique blood pressure monitor developed in the UK, has beaten global competition in the prestigious IDTechEx awards, held in Berlin. The judges were impressed by Tarilian Laser Technologies’ patented biosensor used in ViCardio, which is central in allowing ViCardio® to be the world’s first non-invasive, beat-to-beat, blood pressure monitor. Winning the Best New Wearable Technology Device Award at IDTechEx comes on the back of parent company, Tarilian Laser Technologies (TLT), being just one of six firms chosen by PwC to represent the UK in the Great Festival of Innovation in Hong Kong last month.

TLT & ViCardio CEO Dr Sandeep Shah said: “We are delighted to win the Best New Wearable Technology Award, especially coming so quickly after being part of the PwC delegation to Hong Kong. This reflects the potential of ViCardio® to transform the patient experience, as well as the strength of the UK technology sector. The global wearables market is growing rapidly and we’re confident that ViCardio® will become a key player in the sector, creating valuable export opportunities and jobs along the way.”

IDTechEx have estimated that the global wearable technology will reach over 150bn USD annually by 2027, across a number of categories, including medical devices, fitness trackers and smartwatches. UK companies such as TLT are well-placed to take advantage of this growing market. The judges at IDTechEx, Matthew Heasley, from GSK, and Dr Akira Sakaigawa, from Huawei commented that “ViCardio’s device has the potential to be revolutionary in blood pressure monitoring, so we are delighted to recognise this potential via this award”. Dr David Pearce, accepting the award in Berlin, said: “We’re very proud to have been honoured by the largest emerging technologies conference in Europe. UK wearables technology is becoming a global leader and we are playing a major part in that growth.”

Contact:

press@vicardio.com

ViCardio Website (http://www.vicardio.com)

About IDTechEx

The IDTechEx Show! is hosted by IDTechEx. Since 1999 IDTechEx has provided independent market research, business intelligence and events on emerging technology to clients in over 80 countries. From the IDTechEx judges: Each year at the IDTechEx Show!, two companies are honoured for their achievements in developing and commercialising different aspects of wearable technology. This year the awards were judged by Mr Matthew Heasley (GSK) and Dr Akira Sakaigawa (Huawei) with support from the independent analyst team with IDTechEx Research. As the ecosystem around various wearable products matures at different rates, significant developments at both the product and component level that are required to move the market towards the next generation. Both the high volume and wide diversity of applicants to the award reflected the ongoing spirit within this industry, and the judges commented as to the difficulties selecting just two winners from a list of impressive achievements. The winner of the Best New Wearable Technology Device: ViCardio Reasons for choice: Blood pressure remains one of the most challenging vital signs to characterise. ViCardio’s non-invasive technique does not require the traditional inflating cuff, and also removes the need for individual calibration which has been a requirement in previous attempts at cuff-less, non-invasive monitoring. The device is currently being tested in clinical trials, with the aim of confirming the quality of the data. ViCardio’s device has the potential to be revolutionary in blood pressure monitoring, so we are delighted to recognise this potential via this award.

Tarilian Laser Technologies Ltd (TLT), a global Innovator in medical device, digital technology and engineering, announces the 2018 planned market launch of its remarkable and unique Cuffless continuous beat-to-beat blood pressure monitoring solution, ViCardio® (www.vicardio.com). ViCardio® is based upon TLT’s State of The Art engineering platform delivering both a high performance and aesthetic Medical Wearable Device. The outstanding TLT device is based upon its proprietary and internationally patented opto-electronic sensor which instantly – within a second of application – delivers a continuous and highly accurate* blood pressure reading – similar to the output that is generated from an internal invasive arterial line. In contrast to all other technologies, TLT is easy and extremely comfortable to apply – with no cuff, no application pressure and no calibration required at all. Unlike other attempts at cuffless technology over the past 50 years – which have relied on invasion of energy into the body and reflection back to a detector – which is problematic and highly inaccurate – ViCardio has broken a major barrier in sensor technology and developed a high-fidelity system that accurately* and effectively generates the most important surface physiological parameters that determine blood pressure.

This technology which has over 37 patents is a paradigm shift and will create a whole new series of applications in consumer and hospital care. The regular and accurate measurement of blood pressure is crucial for patients wishing to achieve the best understanding and control of this condition, that now touches the lives of over 50% of the adult population. Current cuff-based products are not well liked by patients as they cause discomfort and are cumbersome to carry. They also require frequent calibration to remain of any clinical value. Other emerging devices rely on light based invasive sensors (similar to the common heart rate wearable sensors) are highly inaccurate and are not serious contenders to gain FDA/CE Mark approval. The TLT sensor will be available to clinicians and consumers and its ViCardio® brand are now set to disrupt the dynamic and evolving multi-billion dollar Medical Wearable and Luxury Technology markets. Following the conclusion of its final clinical trial (details below), it is anticipated that initial orders will be delivered to clinicians and consumers in Q4 2018. People Tarilian Laser Technologies is led by a family team, Dr Sandeep Shah and Nita Shah. They have combined their medical and electronic engineering backgrounds over several years to pursue the development of the ground-breaking TLT sensor.

Having achieved clinical trial results in 2012 within the CE/FDA approval tolerances, they have since focused on the further miniaturisation of the sensor and improvements in accuracy* so as to allow TLT to enter the sensor into a second clinical trial using the highest scrutiny possible, that of comparison to intra-arterial lines used in intensive care environments using the SP-10 protocol. This trial, currently in progress at The Barts Heart Centre, is anticipated to complete in Q2 of 2018 and its results will form the basis of their CE/FDA certifications. Steve Schaefer, patent attorney and engineer by training, moved from his position as the Head of MedTech at the prestigious US patent firm Fish and Richardson in September 2017 to become the third executive director of TLT and the lead of its North American operation. Steve had led the team that had worked on securing the extensive patent portfolio since 2007. Dr David Pearce, a leading Physician, Entrepreneur and expert in digital technology and communications, has recently joined the TLT Non-Executive Advisory Board.

*All claims of accuracy are subject to, and will in due course be certified to, an international recognised medical grade approved standard. The TLT sensor is undergoing strict regulatory clinical testing to the highest standards, with CE Mark and FDA regulatory filings to follow.